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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| The Fall of Aleppo and the Ruin of American Foreign Policy |
| 2016-02-04 |
| Reuters reports that Bashal al-Assad's forces have made major advances behind a major Russian air offensive and are now poised to destroy the non-ISIS rebels opposing the Syrian government is rocking the foreign policy establishment. "After three days of intense fighting and aerial bombardment, regime forces, believed to include Iran-backed Shia militias, broke through to the formerly besieged regime enclaves of Nobul and Zahra." ...Apart from derailing the administration Syrian initiative, the return of Assad from political death behind the bombs of the Russian airforce calls into question the sincerity of president Obama's policy in the region. By contrast with the Russians it seems almost as if the administration were simply going through the motions of combat. The performance of the miniature, "rust bucket" Russian air force has formed an invidious baseline to what the USAF has achieved. ...Someone has to ask: what goal does America still have in the Middle East beyond defending the tattered political image of president Obama? The real scandal in the Hillary Clinton emails are not the technical violations of security the administration has abetted, which Andrew McCarthy convincingly details. It is the mind-boggling incompetence manifested by the emails themselves. The offensive in Aleppo shows Obama has either gotten everything wrong or was dishonest to begin with. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #3 The quality was better when he posted weekly. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2016-02-04 18:17 |
| #2 Richard F is a smart guy but he has some problems with this opinion piece. 1. At least part of Aleppo has been held by the Assad forces since the rebellion against Assad began. In fact, most of the time pro Assad forces held most of Aleppo. Thus when Assad forces make some incremental gains it is not "The Fall of Aleppo" 2. It certainly is true that the Free Syrian Army has taken a massive beating lately. However, given all the other forces in the battle (including anti Assad forces like ISIS and Al Nusra which also hate the FSA), the destruction of the FSA is inevitable in any case. 3. Which emails show incompetence in Syria? Richard doesn't mention which ones and so it is impossible to understand the basis of his 'real scandal' opinion. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2016-02-04 08:24 |
| #1 The offensive in Aleppo shows Obama has either gotten everything wrong or was dishonest to begin with. The two outcomes are certainly not mutually exclusive. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-02-04 06:42 |